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View Poll Results: A pre-order will solve the collectors problems about figures availability?

A pre-order will solve the collectors problems?

Fast sell out and hard to sell action figures
Have you noticed how some figures quickly sell out and some figures are really hard to sell?
Sometimes, Toyguru, speaks about the money problem that limits this series but as far as I'm concerned a pre-order on every figure will let know to Mattel how many items produce, so no more wasted money and no more unhappy customers.
What do you think? A pre-order will solve the collectors problems?
I'm not talkin' about a collective pre-order, but a pre-order for each figure!

Just think about a thing like this:

Last edited by JoeyCruel; March 31, 2013 at 12:00am.

I know 3 angels: their names are Jedi_Kunle, Mikethedrummer and Stacy Mealer!

There technically is a Pre-Order....it's the sub, which doesn't work for many....that being said, I think there should be a PO for others to collect as they like, and that was with the subs as a base, Mattel would never overproduce anything....Sub buyers would represent what figures would be in the line-up just as they do already, and outside PO's could determine how many figures over the subs to produce, and that was almost everyone could be assured the figures they want.

But on the other hand, it wouldn't solve the Star Sisters problem, because the sub holders would still get sets like that, and other majorly unwanted figures. But for those Mattel would only produce them to the sub numbers plus a handful that would PO them....but nothing would rid the line of less desirable figures, but at least Mattel wouldn't have stock of them just sitting around....

Who knows, Hasbro does PO's from time to time on HTS for figures when more popular ones are about to be restocked, and most of the time it's to tell how many to restock, because usually once the PO's are sold out, no more come in, and of they do, it's another PO situation, but it seems to work for them....but DR is another story altogether.

There technically is a Pre-Order....it's the sub, which doesn't work for many....that being said, I think there should be a PO for others to collect as they like, and that was with the subs as a base, Mattel would never overproduce anything....Sub buyers would represent what figures would be in the line-up just as they do already, and outside PO's could determine how many figures over the subs to produce, and that was almost everyone could be assured the figures they want.

But on the other hand, it wouldn't solve the Star Sisters problem, because the sub holders would still get sets like that, and other majorly unwanted figures. But for those Mattel would only produce them to the sub numbers plus a handful that would PO them....but nothing would rid the line of less desirable figures, but at least Mattel wouldn't have stock of them just sitting around....

Who knows, Hasbro does PO's from time to time on HTS for figures when more popular ones are about to be restocked, and most of the time it's to tell how many to restock, because usually once the PO's are sold out, no more come in, and of they do, it's another PO situation, but it seems to work for them....but DR is another story altogether.

^ ditto.

The sub should have solved all the problems. For a line in the range of Classics and its requirements, this should have fixed everything and what everyone need. But of course, when Matty and DR get together, it's like Skeletor and Hordak hooking up and hitting the town together... disasterous

But in order to produce ANY figure they have to produce a set amount for it to be made in any case! There's a lot of time and money involved in the process and although it sounds like a good idea the thought of a "made to order service" with something like this just won't work! Sadly the sub is the only way although I think they should break the sub into categories like color coded packages:

I'm not talkin' about a collective pre-order, but a pre-order for each figure!
So you don't need to have 500 grands in your pocket to pre-order and you don't have Star Sisters on your back....

I get that, I was just saying....I would really get into Matty having PO's, plus the sub, it would give them a realistic gauge for each figures production numbers, and allow for mostly unwanted figures to either have closer to sub numbers, while allowing more fans access to the more popular figures. Mattel wants guaranteed money, they have the sub, and in most cases a PO is guaranteed money as well.

I would go for them, I love that BBTS offers it, incase I miss the DOS on Matty, I'll always get my figures....but Matty should give its customers the same courtesy.

That said, Collector's already get the Subs, which IS a pre-order. And with QC and the shipping issues, they STILL aren't getting their figures. There are bigger problems then knowing who wants the figures and where to ship them...

While Pre-orders would be a dream come true for Cherry pickers and casual collectors... I do not beleive that Pre orders will solve ALL the Collector's problems

That said, Collector's already get the Subs, which IS a pre-order. And with QC and the shipping issues, they STILL aren't getting their figures. There are bigger problems then knowing who wants the figures and where to ship them...

While Pre-orders would be a dream come true for Cherry pickers and casual collectors... I do not beleive that Pre orders will solve ALL the Collector's problems

Actually why couldn't it? Subs for completists, and those who like to go over every figure to see if they like once in hand and if not sell 'em off. Pre-Orders for others to guarantee they get the figures they choose....which with recent screw-ups, not even subscribers are guaranteed that....

You're either a subscriber, or a picker.....either way, sub or PO, it would have pretty much everyone covered, even Mattel. Mattel would be guaranteed money, and they would never have tons of overstock.

DOS for anything over what Mattel has to order for production quotas. Less liked figures would have just right production, and more demanded would have enough to satisfy whoever could sub up, and those who would choose to Pre-Order.

the PO system could be set up to how ever many months advance they need to know for that certain figure, and that would give them a rough final production number over the sub numbers, and still allow for limited DOS stock.

But on the other hand, it wouldn't solve the Star Sisters problem, because the sub holders would still get sets like that, and other majorly unwanted figures. But for those Mattel would only produce them to the sub numbers plus a handful that would PO them....but nothing would rid the line of less desirable figures, but at least Mattel wouldn't have stock of them just sitting around....

Who said that Mattel has stock of the Star Sisters sitting around. According to Scott they sold well.

A lot of figures will never be produced if they don't sell as well as the others, causing the line to die...

Oh ... I forgot some things... you need to preorder about 8 or 9 months in advance. So what if you missed a figure on preorder date? And I REALLY do not believe people want to preorder every month again and again...

A preorder system will be the death for the line!
Selling subs is the only guarantee fro a line like this to permanently survive.
It's just a question of maths... Let's say, they need to sell at least 10000 units per figure. They sell 15000 subs and 1000 additional figures on sale date of EVERY figure = success

I don't agree at all, there are a lot of toy lines that are alive and well with the pre-orders.
Simply they'll not produce the unwanted figure... not everybody are a completist and if a figure is cancelled is because it's not so important or they can sold it with a higher price producing less figures!

Originally Posted by MoViEfReAk

January: Star Sisters uhm.... 5000 preorders... not enough, figures cancelled
February: Sorceress 12000 preorders (not everyone will preorder every single figure) - they produce 13000 (1000 for day of sale) ... 3000 figures lesser than demand
February: Fisto (see Sorceress)
February: NO Shadow Weaver (sub exclusive, but there is no sub)
February: Fearless Photog: 6000 preorders... not enough, figure cancelled
March: Kobra Kahn: 12000 preorders... (see Sorceress)
April: Thunder Punch He-Man ... variant figure... 8000 preorders.... not enough... figure will be produced, but at 10000
May: Slush Head: 7000 preorders... not enough, figure cancelled...
and s.o.
A lot of figures will never be produced if they don't sell as well as the others, causing the line to die...

If nobody wants Slush Head there will be a substitute... you know better than me how much figures we got in MOTUverse!
And Shadow Weaver as a subexclusive is a blackmail and a crime...

Originally Posted by MoViEfReAk

Oh ... I forgot some things... you need to preorder about 8 or 9 months in advance. So what if you missed a figure on preorder date? And I REALLY do not believe people want to preorder every month again and again...

There are a lot of cherry picker that order every month again and again, so where's the problem?
And if they release all the list of all the figures they'll made in the year you can made a sort of personalized subscription in August!

Blackmailing people isn't the solution, if you don't want Snake Man At Arms why you have to buy it?
As Emiliano said:

Originally Posted by Emiliano

Moving on, we get to Preorders. Scott finally says preorders are a possibility. Good, I know that changes the game a bit, but given the current situation, it may not be bad thing.
I listened carefully to what he said. He said that the problem with preorders is that they would be able to sell only vintage characters and core POP and NA characters because that's what people want, and they wouldn't be able to sell stuff like SMAA or Chief Carnivus.
Wait a second. So he does know what the market wants! The implied answer in the unpronounced question is mind boggling.
If he knows, why don't just do what the majority of fans want? I mean, it's no brainer there! Don't do the stuff that a majority of people won't buy and just cater to the average fans, so you have higher numbers and the line can survive, it's THAT simple!
This could have been applied to 2013 line up already (but I have the feeling the rest of the year will be very cool and worth subbing) but I don't want to bash Scott for that. But if we go the pre-orders route, this is so obvious. Don't do SMAA type figures. Do the ones you know will sell enough. And fans will pay more for figures that cost more producing (who said they need to all have the same price?)

A lot of people talk big about how they'll buy "x" amount of something on preorder and think that because they have that view, thousands do. Remember when Hasbro briefly moved GI Joe to a DTC model? Forums were alive with people promising to support the line and yet it flopped after a few waves.

I love crazy characters and rarities like Demo-Man. I honestly think that a preorder model would preclude figures like that... Even Horde-Prime would have struggled to get made, in my opinion.

I survived the 2013 sub ordeal!"We achieved the impossible, and that makes us MIGHTY" (Mal Reynolds, captain of Serenity)

I love crazy characters and rarities like Demo-Man. I honestly think that a preorder model would preclude figures like that... Even Horde-Prime would have struggled to get made, in my opinion.

Exactly right. Also, it's not just obscure characters like Demo-Man that would be in danger of being cut. I want characters like Extendar, Perfuma and Hydron. While these characters aren't obscure, they aren't hugely popular either. A pre-order system for single figures would likely not sell enough of these characters to produce them.

I want as many characters as I can get in this amazing line, not just A-listers that casual fans will buy. This proposed pre-order idea would ruin the line as we know it.

"Oh Lord, Bless this M&M... and the mighty cockroach I slain in battle to get it." - Al Bundy

You'd have to sell an heck of a lot of pre-orders to get any 100% new tooled figures! Remember that the figures that require minimal new tooling help pay for the 2-3 brand new tools each year. With a pre-order your guaranteeing sales of just 1 item. So if next years figures were all to be pre-orders, pre-orders would have to sell out on Netossa, Fangman etc... for Ram Man to go into production, thus the Subscription. That or someone like Ram Man would probably have to sell about 3-4 times the amount Sorceress sold to pay for the tooling!

So even on popular characters, if they are new tools it's not gonna work.

As much as I hate to say it because I hate the subscription business model of this line, but I think everyone's right so far. Without the sub, new figs wouldn't have the chance to be tooled. And while I certainly don't believe that every concept figure or every new figure is great, Matty has surprised us with a few that we didn't even know we wanted. (Vikor, Demo-man, Griffin...) I like surprises.

A cool idea, but it will never happen. Aside from DR incompetence, the main problem holding this idea back is that they can't give you a list of all the figures that will be produced that year. There's figures that need to get dropped/moved around, and it would make it harder for them (legally) to switch things around. Not only that, butt could you imagine the nerd rage if production issues forced a 2013 figure to be pushed in 2014, and they cancelled preorders?

I have heard that Mattel wanted to kill this line since 3 years ago because it wasn't profitable, Why are they still here? why are they still selling? I firmly believe that it's all a scare-tactic, you infuse the horror or loosing your favorite toys again, and it makes people buy subs with characters they didn't really want. I dare Mattel to close this line for good. They won't. Cutting down the retailers and bringing in the consumer straight to the source saves not only on licensing, but also on fuel trucks need to deliver the toys to the stores, indiviudal wages, etc. etc. This is a cash cow whether they want to accept it or not.

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers; the next day you're gone... But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place... a town... a house like a lot of other houses... A yard like a lot of other yards... On a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is... After all these years, I still look back with wonder...

Pre-orders on individual characters would be nice, but it would slow the releases of characters way down, at least at first. You'd also get fewer variants and obscure characters. Whether that's bad or not is a matter of opinion.